Music-sheet turner



April 14, 1925. 1,533,662

- K. N. RODGERS v MUS IC SHEET TURNER Fild Sept. 29, 1925 iii) PatentedApr. 14, 1925..

UNHT' @FEQE- MUSIC-SHEET TURNER.

Application filed September 29, 1923. Serial No, 665,512.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, :KAYN. Bonuses, a citizen of the United States,raiding at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMusic- Sheet Turners, of'which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to music sheet turn ers for pianos and theprimary object there of is to provide a device of the type stated, whichis foot-operated to turn a plurality of sheets in sequence as desired,and upon.

completion of the rendition return the sl'ieets to their, originalposition; under such conditions permittino,- of the free use of thehands in rendering a composition without the usual interrupt-ionsnecessitated by the.

employment of the hand for turning the music sheets.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a device of thecharacter described,

in a manner as hereinafter setfor'th, which may be readily attached to apiano of the usual construction without requiring additional materialsexcept that embodied in the invention, which is simple in itsconstruction and arrangement, strong, durable and ciiicient in its use,positive in its action, and comparatively inexpensive to manufacture.

To the accomplishment of theseand such other objects as may hereinafterappear, the

invention consists of the novel construction, combinationandarranpgement of parts speci-fically described and illustrated in theaccompanying drawing wherein is shown an embodiment of the invention,but it is tobe understood that changes, variations, and modificationsmay be resorted to which come within the scopeof the claim hereuntoappended.

In the drawing forming a port-ion of this specification and'wherein likenumerals of reference designate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views Figure 1 is a top plan view of a music sheet turner inaccordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a side" view thereof with the casing shown in cross section.

F igure 3 is a diagrammatic View illustrating. the relative position ofthe operating drum with respect to the arm carrying plates andassociated parts. s

Figure 4 is a side view of the sheet clamp.

Referring in detail to the drawing 1 denotes a casing provided adjacentto its upper end with a pair of transversely disposed cross-bars Qand 3,respectively.

A. vertically dis-posed shaft 4 is fixedly mounted in the casing 1,adjacent tothe rear end thereof. The lower end of the shaft 4: ismounted in the bottom of the casing; l and its upper end engages in thecross-bar 2.

Rotatably mountedon the vertical shaft is a drum 5 and a disk wheel 6.The former is positioned below the latter on the vertical shaft and isprovided on its lower face with ratchet teeth 7. A. resilient pawl 8 ismounted on the bottom of the casing 1 and engages the ratchet teeth 7 ofthe drum 5, as clearly illustrated in Figure 2, of the drawing. The enagement of the pawl S with the ratchetteeth 7 permits of the rotation ofthe drum only in the counter clockwise direction.

. The dish wheel 6 is likewise provided on its lower face with ratchetteeth 9 which are engaged by a resilient pawl 10 mounted on the top faceof the drum. 5. teeth 9, of the disl; wheel 6, are disposed in theopposite direction relatively to the disposition of the ratcl'i'et teeth7 carried by the drum 5.

A coil spring 11 ismounted on the top of the wheel disk 6. Que end ofthe-spring 11 is fixed to the'hub of the wheel disk 6 and the other endthereof is fixedto a po::t 12 mounted in the casing 1. The action oftheeoil spring 11 normallytends to rotate the disk wheel 6. in theclockwise direction.

The disk wheel 6 is formed with a peripheral groove 12 in which aflexible pull member 13 is positioned. The pull member 13 has one endthereof secured in the groove 12 and extends only part way around in thegroove 12. The other end of the pull member 13 extends rearwardl throughan aperture 14; formedin the casing 1, and is connected with the link15. k

A substantially ii-shaped o-peratinglever 16 is pivotally connected, asat 17, to a bracket 18, mountedon a bottom extension 19 of the with'treadle which is positioned to suit the convenience the operator.

it Will. be noted that theflexi lc pull The ratchet member 13 is engagedin the groove 12, of the disk wheel 6, in a manner so that a rearwardpull on the member 13 will rotate the disk wheel 6 in the counterclockwise direction for the purpose to be described.

The forward wall of the casing 1 is formed with an opening 22 in whichis mounted upper and lower brackets 23 which support a vertical fixedshaft 2 1 in a manner to position the latter forward of the front end ofthe casing 1.

Rotatably mounted on the fixed vertical shaft 24: is a pair of annularplates 25 and 26, respectively. The plate 25 is positioned above theplate 26, and each carries a coil spring 27 having one end attached tothe front wall of the casing 1, as indicated at 28, and the other endthereof to the huh of respective annular plates 25 and 26. The act-ionof the spring 27 normally tends to turn associated plates 25 and 26 inthe clock wise direction.

Each of the plates 25 and 26 carries a turning arm 29 fixed thereto tothe outer end of which a sheet clamp 30 is swivelly mounted, as shown at31, in Figure 5, of the drawing. Each of the plates 25 and 26 is furtherprovided with a recess 32, formed on its periphery, for the purpose tobe described.

A vertically disposed fixed shaft 33, secured at its lower end to thebottom of the casing 1 and at its upper end to the crossbar 3, ismounted in the casing 1 adjacent to the forward end thereof. Rotatablymounted on the shaft 33 is a gear The latter carries a coil spring 36having one end attached to the hub thereof and the other end to a post87 fixed in the casing 1. The gear 35 is in mesh with a. pinion 38retatably mounted on the upper end of the fixed vertical shaft 2 1. hepinion is provided with a short projecting arm 39 having a depending rod4.0 fixed in its outer end. The action of the spring 36 normally tendsto rotate the gear 35 in the counter clockwise direction and inconsequence the pinion 38, in mesh with the latter, will turn in theclockwise direction. Such rotary movement of the pinion 38 andassociated gear 35 is limited by the contacting of the arm 39 with thefront wall of the casing 1.

Fixedly mounted in the casing 1 is a short vertical shaft 11 upon whicha pair of trip levers 12 and 13 are pivotally mounted, as indicated atThe forward end of the lever 4-2 is arranged to travel on the peripheryof the annular plate 25 and engage in the recess 32 formed therein, andthe forward end of the lever 43 is arranged to travel on the peripheryof the annular plate 26 and engage in the recess 82 formed therein. Aspring 15 is attached to each of the levers and 4.3 and to a post 16mounted in the casing 1. The action of the springs 15 hold the levers 42and 13 in engagement with the periphery of respective annular plates 25and 26.

Each of the levers 12 and 43 is provided with a laterally disposedangular end 17. The end 17 of the lever 12 is arranged in the path oftravel of an actuating pin d8, and the end 17 of the lever 13 isarranged in the path of travel of the actuating pin 49. The pins 18 and1-9 are radially fixed in the periphery of the drum 5 and are providedwith Vshaped outer enc In like manner an actuating arm 50 is fined onthe periphery of the drum 5 to engage the depending leg 51 fixed to thelower face of the gear 35 adjacent to its periphery for the purpose tobe described.

It will be noted that the pin e18, the pin 1-9 and the arm 50 areequally spaced from each other on the periphery of the drum 5.

In practice the operation of the device is as follows The device ispositioned centrally on top of the piano with the parts thereofsubstantially in the positions as shown in Figure 2, of the drawing. Theactuating rod 21 is attached to a suitable treadle (not shown)accessible to the operator. irssuming there are two sheets to be turned,the clamp 30 associated with the annular plate 25 is secured to themarginal upper edge of the first sheet, and the clamp 30 associated withthe annular plate 26 is attached to the marginal top edge of the secondsheet. l Vhen it is desired to turn the first sheet the op erator, bydepressing the treadle, will actuate the lever 16 whereby the pullmember 13 is drawn rearwardly rotating the disk wheel 6 in the counterclockwise direction. The engagement of the pawl 10 with the ratchetteeth 9 on the disk wheel 6 will likewise cause the rotation of the drum5 in the counter clockwise direction.

Upon rotation of the drum 5, as above stated, the pin 18 carried therebywill engage and shift the lever 12 causing the latter to disengage therecess 32 of the annular plate 25. The annular plate 25 being released,the action of its spring 27 will cause the rotation of the plate 25 inthe clockwise direction together with its associated turning arm 29 andthe first music sheet attached thereto. The rotation of the plate 25 inthe clockwise direction will stop when the associated arm 29 strikes thedepending rod 10 and the sheet has been properly turned over.

After the first sheet turning operation is described the operatorreleases the treadle allowing the spring 11 to return the wheel disk 6to its original position by rotating it in the clockwise direction. Thearrangement of the pawl 10 and ratchet teeth 9 will permit of suchreturn movement of the wheel disk 5, but the arrangement of the lll)pawl S and ratchet teeth 7 will prevent the rotation of the drum 5 inthe clockwise direction.

It will be noted that after the first sheet turning operation the pin 48will have cleared the lever 42 and moved the pin 49 in position toengage the lever 43 upon the next depression of the treadle to operatethe actuating rod 21 and the lever 16.

The second depression of the treadle will cause the pin 49 to engage andshift the trip lever 43 to release the annular plate 26 therebypermitting its spring 27 to move the associated turning arm 29 to turnthe second music sheet in a manner identical to that described relativeto the first sheet turning operation.

Both of the turning arms 29 will now be positioned against the dependingrod 40 and the arm 50, carried by the drum 5, is in position to engagethe depending leg 51 of the gear 35.

The third depression of the treadle will cause the. arm 50 to engage theleg 51 rotating the gear in the clockwise direction and the pinion 38 inmesh with the gear 35 in the counter clockwise direction. As thedepending rod 40 is connected with the pinion 38 through the arm 39, theturning arms 29 will be returned totheir original positions, as the arm50 clears the leg 51, together with the music sheets attached thereto. I

The action of the springs will hold the outer ends of the levers 42 and43 against the peripheries of the respective annular plates 25 and 26,and when the latter are re turned to the original positions as abovestated the outer ends of the levers 42 and 43 will again engage in therecesses 32 of respective annular plates 25 and 26 thereby locking themin the original position and tensioning their springs 27, andpositioning all parts of the device in their original positionspermitting a repetition of the entire operation as above described.

lVhile describing and illustrating a device capable of turning twosheets of music before returning them to their original posi- 'ofannular plates and turning arms with associated operating mechanism inaccordance with the principle involved in the embodiment described andillustrated.

What I claim is In combination, a device for the purpose set forthcomprising a casing provided with a rear bottom extension, asubstantially V- shaped operating lever pivotally mounted on saidextension and adapted to be connected with a treadle, a pair of annularplates rotatably mounted in the forward end of said casing, each of saidplates formed with a peripheral recess and carrying a turning armprovided at its outer end with a swivelly connected sheet clampingmember, each of said plates associated with a spring element forshifting said arm in the clockwise direction, a drum mounted in saidcasing and capable of rotation in the counter clockwise direction, adisk wheel rotatably mounted in said casing, means carried by said drumand engaging said wheel for intermittently revolving said drum duringthe operation of said wheel, a flexible member connected with said wheeland with said operating lever for partially rotating said wheel whensaid operating lever is actuated, a spring element for returning saidwheel to the operative position, a pair of trip levers adapted to engagein said recesses of said plates for securing said arms in the initialposition, means carried on the periphery of said drum and adapted toengage said trip levers for consecutively releasing said plates forshifting said arms, and means actuated by the rotation of said drum forreturning said arms to the initial position, substantially as describedand for the purpose set fort In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

KAY N. RODGERS.

